


43 Seconds

by Taylor_Beta_B3



Category: League of Legends
Genre: Continuation of Chronobreak, Gen, Grief/Mourning, Hurt/Comfort, character death (mentioned)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-16
Updated: 2020-07-16
Packaged: 2021-03-05 02:09:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,232
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25306519
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Taylor_Beta_B3/pseuds/Taylor_Beta_B3
Summary: He unlocked the door and yanked it open.“Ekko?” Dusty squinted at the teen. When he got a closer look at him, he noticed dark stains in the candlelight leading from his eyes down his cheeks. His sluggish brain jolted with realization.Ekko was crying.
Comments: 2
Kudos: 2





	43 Seconds

**Author's Note:**

> If you haven't read Chronobreak, please read it as this one-shot is directly linked to that comic. His other short stories are optional but would give you a better understanding in the story.  
> https://www.surrenderat20.net/2015/05/ekko-chronobreak-comic.html#more

There was a frantic pounding at the door. A brown haired teen grumbled and rolled over in bed.

“Dffty, shuttit up,” came the muffled growl two beds over. Dusty groaned again, smashing his pillow to his face.  _ Make it stop. I don’t wanna get up. _

The pounding didn’t stop. If anything it got  _ louder _ .

If he didn’t do something soon the babies would start crying, and he did not want to spend another hour trying to get them back to sleep. So he lurched out of bed, grumbling all the way as he shuffled out of the room and down the hall.

“‘M comin’,” he growled. He opened a desk drawer near the bottom of the stairs and fumbled around for the matches. With a snap one flared to life and he lit a candle sitting on the desk. He dumped the unlit match in an ashtray before making his way to the door with the candle-holder in hand. He unlocked the door and yanked it open. 

“What?” he spat. Then, he registered the familiar teen standing before him. He looked wild and fey in the soft blue light of his Z-drive behind him. 

“Ekko?” Dusty squinted at him. “Aren’t you s’pposed to be home by now?” When he got a closer look at him, he noticed dark stains in the candlelight leading from his eyes down his cheeks. His sluggish brain jolted with realization. Ekko was crying.

“What’s wrong?” His drowsiness fell to the wayside as Ekko looked away, his shoulders tense. He looked one second from fleeing, so Dusty forced himself to look relaxed and inviting. 

“Do you want to come in?” he said with as much gentleness he could muster. Right now, answers could wait.

Ekko looked at him with glassy, distant eyes. After a few seconds, he nodded, his mohawk tips bobbing. 

He moved away from the door, letting the white-haired teen in. 

Ekko shuffled into the family room. His body moved to sit on the ratty couch but his mind looked like it was on the other side of the world. 

His worry rose but he refused to let it show. Instead, he turned and walked into the kitchen. 

After a few minutes, he returned with a cup of steaming tea and the candle. He set the candle on the table before sitting on the left side of Ekko. 

It was quiet except for the gentle ticking of the clock and the clinking of the spoon against the cup. He gently pushed the cup of tea into Ekko’s hands.

“Drink this, it’ll help,” he said.

The teen took the cup from him as if it was an afterthought. Ekko was still staring blankly into space, and Dusty sighed. 

He didn’t want to rush him but at the same time, his curiosity was like a desperate itch. He muffled his curiosity, and cleared his throat. Ekko gave a tiny flinch, and Dusty mentally kicked himself.

_ What do I do? _

_ What should I say? _

He pondered for a bit before coming to a decision.

He touched Ekko’s shoulder, feeling him tense even more, “You don’t have to tell me now, but I’m here for you, Ekko,” he said earnestly. He gave the shoulder a comforting pat and settled back. 

A few minutes passed in suffocating silence before Ekko swallowed. “I got him back. In the end. He doesn’t know it now, but I got him.” His hands tightened around the cup as his voice took a slightly harsh tone. Dusty stared at him, mildly confused, but he knew that if he continued to wait, he would get his answers when the other teen was calmer and in the present. 

Another minute passed before Ekko looked up at him, “Why did I make him leave?” his voice cracked, tears overflowing. “He wouldn’t be dead if it wasn’t for me!”

Dusty’s heart stopped.  _ Who was dead? _ He was afraid of the answer, but given Ekko’s reaction, it must’ve been someone close to him: either his dad or one of the orphans he hung out with. He ran a mental headcount of the orphans here. It wasn’t one from here, so it was from one of the other orphanages. And if it was his Dad… he didn’t want to entertain the idea of anything happening to him. 

He scooted closer until his side touched Ekko’s. The teen’s chest heaved with struggling sobs, one hand covering his face. 

Dusty gently pried the still-warm cup from the clenched fist and placed it on the table. His right hand rubbed against Ekko’s back, waiting patiently for him to pull himself back together. 

“It’s my fault.” Ekko gasped. “All my fault.”

Dusty swallowed through the lump in his throat before he gripped Ekko’s right shoulder and gently pulled him into a hug. The teen’s hands gripped Dusty’s shirt, his sniffles muffled against the fabric of his night-shirt. He rubbed his back as he rocked them back and forth, quietly shushing him under his breath.

After what felt like hours, Ekko calmed down enough that he wasn’t hyperventilating. But even after he calmed down, he didn’t push Dusty away. So he stayed right where he was.

“Ajuna’s dead because of me,” Ekko croaked. 

Dusty’s hands paused in their rubbing as his heart clenched. He pulled away from Ekko. 

“Ajuna?” he said in disbelief.

Ekko looked away. “I sent him to get some food and when I realized he was taking too long I started my Z-drive and ran. For three minutes and 45 seconds, I ran until I saw him, lying there in the street. It took 43 seconds for him to… to…” Ekko swallowed before he looked back to Dusty, eyes shimmering with tears. “I was there with him through every last second.” 

The teen took another shuddering breath. “He would still be here, if it wasn’t for me,” he said desperately. 

Dusty felt his eyes water. He cupped his hands over his face, struggling to contain his grief. Ajuna was a good boy, a good friend. For a moment, he felt a flash of anger towards Ekko. But then, it passed. He didn’t know it would happen, it wasn’t his fault.

It was the man who killed him.

“Who did it?” he asked, his voice tight.

“A piltie,” Ekko spat. His hands clenched into fists.

“Then it was only his fault, and if he ever shows his face around here he’ll get what’s coming to him,” Dusty growled.

Ekko blinked at him “But-”

“But nothing. You didn’t know it was going to happen, so stop thinking it was your fault.”

The teen in front of him looked speechless. “All that matters, right now, is that you spent those last 43 seconds with Ajuna. He didn’t die alone,” he put a hand on Ekko’s shoulder, “because you were there with him.” 

There was a beat of silence before Ekko’s tears overflowed and he started softly keening. He wrapped his arms around Dusty, and buried his face in the other teen’s chest. And this time, Dusty couldn’t hold back the tears. 

Tonight, they would cry and mourn. Tomorrow, they would mourn and remember. 

Ajuna was the boy who was their sunshine in the dark. The boy who was a fun-loving trouble-maker. The boy who was a friend to everyone.

Whether it was tomorrow, next month, or even next year, he would always be remembered as a brother

**Author's Note:**

> What started as an idea that wouldn’t leave me alone until I decided to do something about it caused this… gem(?) to be born. (I don’t know if it’s actually a gem, that’s up to the readers.) Lately, I’ve been hooked on League and Ekko happens to be one of my favorite characters and along-side that I started making up Original Characters to go along with the universe (i.e. Dusty). To further the point of why this story was made… there’s not many Ekko stories. There’s, like, one comic (Chronobreak, which this one-shot is set after), one character introduction, and one fluff piece (I’m not including any videos he was in).  
> He’s one of the characters that I wish League would do something more with (you got a time-traveling kid, think of the possibilities!)  
> I wanted something written in response to the comic that would highlight how he felt and what he did to recover (though, admittedly, this one-shot doesn’t show much of his recovery either, so sorry). Sure, Ekko is “cool” and everything but anybody would cry at their brother’s/best friend’s death and have lasting guilt.
> 
> I’d also like to thank The_Idonian for beta reading this. They’re a fellow fanfic writer and I implore you to check out their stuff (we’re currently working on a set of Bastion fics). They were a blind reader for this (so imagine my fun (sarcasm) when I explained that, no, the z-drive was not a car). https://archiveofourown.org/users/The_Idonian  
> I’m also fairly new to this universe, so forgive me if there happens to be inconsistencies within this story (I tried to make it faithful to Ekko’s stories as much as possible).
> 
> Info---------
> 
> “And if it was his Dad”- His dad is a reference to Lullaby. Now, I don't know much about the parents (I don’t think anybody does, really) but from what I've read in the short story his parents are supportive and encouraging. The ideal kind of parents that would love and care for a child if they weren't being worked to the bone every minute of every day.
> 
> “Three minutes and 45 seconds”- Four minutes and 28 seconds is when Ekko first saw Ajuna after he had already passed away. So, with some quick math to work in Ajuna's last words, I decided that Ekko should get there around three minutes and 45 seconds and have 43 seconds to spend with Ajuna. In one of the rewinds where he saw Ajuna alive he said, and I quote, "in less than one minute, Ajuna will be dead". This is not exact, and I don't know if when Ekko first saw Ajuna he had died just as he arrived or a few seconds before. It's finicky but it's the best I could do. 
> 
> “A piltie”- The man is still alive despite Ekko rewinding to (probably) kill him in his act of revenge because when he rewinded again to see Ajuna for the last time it reset everything (and I’m pretty sure it cemented Ekko’s hatred towards pilties from then on- he already wasn’t a fan of them and now...).


End file.
